


The Price of a Daughter

by Laitie



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 12:35:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10697127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laitie/pseuds/Laitie
Summary: A new group of students arrives at the dojo. Six of the Dixon children. But they're not like normal children. And one in particular bodes to make the members of Team Kenshin's lives much more interesting.





	1. The Dixon Children

**Author's Note:**

> This is still in its infancy. So some things will still be rough-draft level. My apologies. However, polite, constructive criticism is most welcome.

“You’re all here to learn Kamiya Kasshin Ryu?” Kaoru asked, looking at the group of children whose ages ranged from 6 to 16. 

“Yes, ma’am,” the eldest, a boy, said. His hair was dark, but like the other children, his eyes were a bright, piercing blue. “Our mother wishes to pay you handsomely for the trouble.” He bent into a proper bow and handed Kaoru a letter.

Their mother? It was hard to imagine these children all had the same mother. They all looked so different! All except the youngest were obviously Western. Of those, only one did not look European. Uncertainly, she took the letter from the eldests’ hand.

She almost balked at the money folded inside. This would buy beef pot for everyone in the household every day for a month! After a shocked moment, she cleared her throat.

“Certainly!” she said with a grin. “Come on in!” She stepped aside and allowed all six of the children to enter the dojo.

“Thank you, Kamiya-Sensei,” the eldest said. “My name is Dixon Yakov. These are my brother and sisters. Mohammed,” the only other boy had dark skin and black hair. He looked about 14, and he bowed at his name. “Elizabeth.” Elizabeth had brown hair, her skin almost too pale. Her lips looked as if they were always pinched too tight together, despite looking around the same age as Mohammed. “Angela.” This sister had hair the color of wheat. There was a shadow of a grin on her lips and in her clear eyes. She seemed ready to laugh at any moment. Very much like Yahiko, who seemed close in age to her. “Sofia.” Sofia was certainly younger than Yahiko and Angela, but not by much. Her dark brown hair was offset by her pale skin. Her bow was clumsy and she almost lost her balance, causing Angela to giggle. A sharp look from the eldest brother silenced the girl. “And Sakura.” Sakura was almost too young to have come, bouncing on her toes and so distracted that she barely remembered to bow.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Kaoru said politely. “You may call me Kaoru-sensei. We will learn much from each other, I’m sure.”

The Dixon children’s first lesson was uneventful, to say the least. With the exception of Elizabeth, none of the children seemed to know the first thing about swordsmanship. But they all tried. And within a few days, they were already mastering the beginning basics. 

“Where did you learn to use a bokken so well, Elizabeth-san?” Kaoru asked the girl one day as the other children and Yahiko were sparring. 

Elizabeth shrugged. “I suppose I am just good with it,” she said. 

Kaoru raised an eyebrow at her. “But you’ve certainly shown signs that you’ve fought with one before,” she pressed.

The girl shook her head.

“Elizabeth’s embarrassed,” came a voice. Kaoru and Elizabeth both jumped as they noticed Angela on the other side of Kaoru, a mischievous grin on her face.

“I am not!” Elizabeth informed her younger sister. 

“Are, too!” Angela teased. She looked at Kaoru. “She doesn’t talk about it because the last time she did it in front of people she--”

“Stop it!” Elizabeth yelled. In her anger, she threw something at her younger sister. Though there had been nothing in her hand before, now Angela ducked to avoid being hit by a throwing star. Instead, the star embedded itself on the wall beside her as the blond girl laughed. Everyone else in the room stopped and looked at the scene. 

“Where did that come from!?” Kaoru demanded, stepping around Angela to examine the weapon. 

“Elizabeth,” Angela said mockingly. 

“Gigi, I swear I’ll--”

“Girls!” Yakov stepped closer to the three of them. “My deepest apologies, Kaoru-sensei,” he told their teacher. “I’m afraid we must leave early today.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on,” Kaoru said. She looked at Elizabeth. “How many more of these do you have!?”

Elizabeth’s face was completely red with embarrassment. She stared at the floor, frozen by her shame and anger.

“How many more do you want?” Angela asked, pretending to be polite.

“Gigi, that’s enough!” Yakov said before turning back to Kaoru. “Again, my deepest apologies.” His cold gaze turned to Angela. “We will be sure she does not bring any more.” He turned to the rest of the room. “Time to go home,” he told his siblings. Obediently, they went to put their bokken away.

Kaoru frowned and looked at Kenshin, who had been sitting and watching the lesson silently. Her eyes narrowed at him as she saw his eyes closed, his head bowed. Was he sleeping!? She stomped over to him.

“Gigi!” Kaoru stopped in her own rage to see what Gigi was doing to frustrate Yakov even further. “It is time to go home.”

The middle sister was still standing in the same spot. Her arms were crossed stubbornly as she stared defiantly back at her brother. “I don’t want to,” she said. “I like it here.” She gave another mischievous grin. 

“Gigi--”

“Catch me if you can!” As soon as the words left her throat, she disappeared on the spot. Kaoru and Yahiko gasped while Kenshin lifted his head and surveyed the room.

“Mother’s going to kill you!” Elizabeth called into the room. Gigi’s laughter echoed throughout the dojo.

“Where is she!?” Kaoru asked. “What happened to her!?”

“Do not worry so, Kaoru-sensei,” Mohammed assured her. “She’s doing this to herself.”

“How!?”

“It’s complicated,” Yakov told her. He rolled his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. “Mohammed, take them home,” he said. Mohammed nodded and the Dixon children gathered around the second-eldest. 

“Thank you for teaching us,” they sang in unison before leaving the dojo.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I noticed that this fic is getting the same attention that The Cobra's Strike fic when I had said there would be rape. I find it odd mostly because I know Kenshin isn't exactly a big fandom. I just want to let you guys know right now that the rape is mentioned and used mostly as a tool to garner a reaction from Kenshin. Also, it won't happen for quite a while yet. Thank you.

“Where would Angela-kun go?” Yahiko asked.

“She’s probably still in here,” Yakov replied. “Laughing at us. Gigi!” 

“There must be some way to get her to show herself,” Kaoru said as she, Yahiko, and Yakov stepped close together to start a plan. 

Kenshin’s eyes shifted to the wall where the name-card holding Yakov’s name was very slowly and silently slipping itself off of its hook before disappearing. As the council of three discussed, Mohammed’s name card did the same as Yakov’s. And then Elizabeth’s. 

“My deepest apologies,” Yakov was saying. “I must go fetch my mother. She is the only one with the power to catch Gigi when she does this.”

“Yeah, Yakov!” Gigi shouted, throwing the name cards at them. She appeared momentarily as she spoke, a few steps away from them, laughing. “Go running home to Mama!” she teased. “You can never catch me!” 

“Gigi!” He lunged for her but she disappeared again and must have jumped out of the way. Her running feet echoed in the dojo alongside her laughter. 

“How dare you treat your sensei and classmates so!?” Kaoru yelled at the air. “When you come back you’ll do another 100 lunges!”

“Kaoru-dono,” Kenshin said calmly.

She didn’t give Kenshin a chance to speak. “Did you see what she did!?” she demanded, stomping her foot. She bent and picked up the name cards.

“I’ll bring our mother as soon as I can,” Yakov said through gritted teeth before standing. “Thank you for the lesson.” He turned and raced out of the dojo. Again, Angela’s laughter rang through the dojo.

“Dixon Angela!” Kaoru called. “This behavior is unacceptable. Show yourself right now!” But the only answer to be had was silence. 

“Kaoru-dono,” Kenshin tried again. She turned to glare at him. “You and Yahiko have worked hard today. Perhaps now is a good time to rest. This one will watch for Angela-san.”

“How can you watch for her if you can’t even see her!?” Kaoru demanded. 

But Yahiko didn’t have to be told twice. “C’mon, Kaoru,” he said. “Kenshin’s right. He’s better at seeing things that aren’t there, anyway.”

“You, too, Yahiko!?” she asked, whirling on the orphan boy. “So you’re just going to give up!?”

“No,” Yahiko said. “I’m tired! And Kenshin’s always been able to sense things when we can’t. So let’s go!”

Kaoru frowned. She looked back at Kenshin, who merely grinned cheerfully back at her. Finally, with a dramatic sigh, she resigned. “Fine,” she said. She put her bokken away and walked out with Yahiko. “Don’t forget those lunges!” Kaoru called back before they were out of earshot. 

Once they were gone, Kenshin shifted his gaze to the center of the dojo. Angela had been watching him smugly. She casually stepped away as he looked at her. His gaze followed.

Angela’s grin faltered a little, and she stepped elsewhere. Still, his gentle gaze followed her. He saw her. But...But she was supposed to be invisible!

“Do you have magic?” she asked Kenshin, trying to act casual. She fiddled with her bokken nervously.

“No,” Kenshin said lightly, shaking his head. 

“Then how do you see me?”

He just shrugged. “It is not good to behave in this way,” he informed her. “Especially towards those who care for you.”

She made a face as she allowed herself to become visible again. “They don’t care for me,” she said.

“Kaoru-dono does.”

“She doesn’t know me.”

“But she cares.”

She crossed her arms stubbornly and turned away from him, her long, yellow braid swinging with her movements. “It was just a joke,” she said.

“This one is afraid to tell you that your joke went too far.” He began walking towards her. “You upset Elizabeth-san. And then continued to upset everyone else.”

“They don’t know how to take a joke!” she insisted. 

He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. “Angela-san--”

She spun and stepped away when she felt his hand on her shoulder, effectively brushing him off. “She deserved it!” she yelled. “She yelled at me this morning for getting my dress dirty! It’s not her dress it’s my dress and I can do what I want with it!”

Kenshin frowned. “Angela-san--”

“No! I don’t care! I hate it here! I hate Japan! And I hate all of you!” She went invisible again and bolted. Kenshin listened as she ran outside, threw off her tabi and climbed the fence. He sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

They heard nothing from the Dixon’s the next day. Or the day after that. In fact, the entire week went by without a word from the six siblings or their mother. Kenshin decided it was about time to investigate. The evening before he was to begin his research, however, Angela finally made an appearance.

Kenshin, Yahiko, Kaoru, and Sanosuke were sitting in the courtyard for dinner. Yahiko and Sano were teasing Kaoru about her cooking when Kenshin picked up on someone nearby. Someone...about to scale the fence.

He remained silent, keeping an ear out for the intruder as he pretended to watch Kaoru yell at the other two and threaten to take their food away. The intruder’s aura was not malicious. Rather, it seemed...frightened.

The intruder made it onto a nearby tree and began making his/her way towards the group. They misjudged the strength of a branch. All inhabitants of the dojo went silent as the branch cracked and a small body was heard falling from the tree. The intruder let out a small yelp as they hit the ground hard.

“What was that?” Kaoru asked. She set her bowl down and Yahiko grabbed his bokken.

“I’ll find out,” Yahiko said, standing and stepping towards the source of the sound.

“Wait,” Kenshin said. Everyone turned to him. Kaoru glared, while Yahiko and Sano turned their gazes back to the source, waiting.

Slowly, Angela came out from the shadows. She wore a lacy blue dress, now tattered, torn, and soiled. Her bare feet were caked with dirt, and her hair was tousled with twigs in it. She stayed a few steps away from the others, staring at the ground.

“Angela-kun?” Yahiko asked. He lowered his bokken. It was then that he noticed the tears streaking through the dirt down her face.

“Please...” she said, her voice barely audible. “Please...can I stay here?”

“Angela-kun, what happened?” Kaoru asked.

The girl sniffed and shook her head. “Please,” she said. “I just...I can’t go home.”

Kaoru exchanged a look with Kenshin. The girl wrapped her arms about herself. After a moment of silence, Yahiko rolled his eyes.

“Well, are you gonna give her some fish or not, Kaoru?” he demanded, placing his bokken down and preparing a new plate. He stepped over to Angela with the full plate and handed it to her. “C’mon, it’s not good to eat standing up.” As Angela watched him, wide eyed, he gently took her elbow and led her to sit next to him on the step. He then continued to eat his own dinner, and everyone else finally followed suit.

Angela wiped the tears from her face before slowly picking at her own dinner.

“I should still have some kimonos from when I was your age, Angela-kun,” Kaoru said thoughtfully. “And I should have another sleeping mat, too. But you’ll have to share Yahiko’s room.”

Angela nodded silently, still too lost in her own world to object to anything they were willing to give her.

“Kenshin, when you’re done, start the fire for the bath so Angela can get cleaned up,” Kaoru ordered. Kenshin nodded with a grin. “Do you still want to learn Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, Angela-kun?”

The blinked and looked up at her, puzzled. “What?” she asked.

Kaoru grinned at her. “Do you still want to learn Kamiya Kasshin Ryu?”

She gave a weak grin and nodded. “Yes, please,” she said softly.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Yahiko asked through his mouth full of fish.

Angela frowned and looked down at her plate. “Not really...” she said.

“That’s OK,” Kenshin said. “You don’t have to eat it all.”

Angela bit her lip and nodded, leaving the plate on her lap as she wrapped her arms about herself again. And slowly, the normal pace for dinner began up again.


	4. Chapter 4

Angela’s sleep was restless, to say the least. Several times, her violent tossing and turning woke Yahiko up. The next morning, both groggy children reported for breakfast, struggling to keep their eyes open. 

“What’s the matter with you two?” Kaoru asked when she saw them. 

“We didn’t get any sleep,” Yahiko said.

“Why not?”

He unceremoniously pointed at Angela.

Angela frowned and glared at Yahiko, pressing her hands to her hips. “It wasn’t my fault!” she argued.

“What happened?” Kaoru demanded. 

“I had nightmares,” Angela grumbled.

“She moved around so much she kept me awake,” Yahiko complained.

Kaoru sighed. “You’ll live,” she said. “C’mon, start the fire, Yahiko.”

“Why me!?” 

“Because I said so! Now, go!”

Yahiko frowned, grumbling as he went to start the kitchen fire.

“What were you dreams about, Angela-kun?” Kaoru asked, stepping closer to the girl.

The girl frowned and rubbed her shoulder. “Nothing,” she said quietly, turning away from her.

Kaoru frowned. “Angela-kun--”

“Please,” Angela said, turning back to Kaoru and grinning. “Call me Gigi. I hate ‘Angela’.” 

After a moment, Kaoru gave up and grinned. “Gigi.” She giggled. “It’s cute.” 

“Thank you,” Gigi said. 

Kaoru nodded and gestured to the kitchen. “C’mon,” she said. “I’ve got to start teaching you how to cook.”

“You?” Yahiko mocked as the flame in the kitchen began to glow. “You’ll set her up for disaster. Might as well let Kenshin do it from the start so she doesn’t get screwed up!”

“Why you!” Kaoru yelled, going over and slapping the boy over the head.

“Oro?” Kenshin casually stepped into the room. “Was something being said about this one?” he asked. But Yahiko and Kaoru were too busy going at each other again to respond. He grinned and looked at Gigi. “Ohaiyo, Angela-san. Did you sleep well?” he asked.

“It’s Gigi,” she told him lightly. “Kaoru wants to teach me to cook. Yahiko says her cooking’s no good.”

Kenshin let out a chuckle. “Oh, this one sees,” he said and glanced over at the two. “Well, while they’re busy, why don’t you and this one begin cooking, then?”

“OK,” she said, following him down into the kitchen.

After breakfast, Kaoru kept Gigi behind to help clean up so Yahiko could dress in privacy. Once everything was put away, Kaoru and Gigi headed into the children’s bedroom.

“Have you put on a kimono before, Gigi?” Kaoru asked as she pulled out a kimono that should fit Gigi. It had a yellow base with pink flowers.

“I hate kimonos,” Gigi said with a frown. Kaoru looked up at her with a puzzled look to see the girl facing away with her arms crossed.

“What’s wrong with kimono?” the woman asked. “I think this’ll look so pretty on you.”

“I hate pretty,” Gigi replied stubbornly.

Kaoru frowned and dropped her arms. “What’s wrong with pretty?” she asked. “All girls--”

“I hate pretty!” Gigi repeated, raising her voice. 

“Don’t talk to me like that!” Kaoru yelled. “I’m trying to help you!”

“I don’t want to be pretty!” Gigi insisted, glaring hard at the wall. “And I won’t wear a kimono.”

Kaoru closed her eyes and let out a breath, controlling her temper. “What do you expect to wear?” she asked. “We don’t have any Western clothing.”

Gigi was silent a moment. Finally, without even a look back at her, she asked, “What about what the boys wear?”

Kaoru’s eyes widened. 

“We practice in those clothes!” Gigi argued when Kaoru didn’t respond. Finally, the woman let out a breath.

“OK,” she said. “Let me go find some.”


End file.
